


Second Chances

by FairsFair



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: Friends to Lovers, M/M, Oral Sex, Romance, Zack Fair Lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-14 16:47:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29174379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FairsFair/pseuds/FairsFair
Summary: Zack Fair died and Kunsel had been there to help bury him.  However, after the odd events at the Shin-Ra Building the night before, Zack appears at Kunsel's apartment the next evening with a sickly Cloud in tow.  It's as if time had not passed at all!  Kunsel decides not to think about it too much and he and Zack unintentionally make up for lost time.  Zack/Kunsel
Relationships: Zack Fair/Kunsel
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	Second Chances

Kunsel knew something had broken in their world. Something had reached down into the depths of the universe and unraveled reality as he had known it. Up had become down, left had become right, and the dead had become the living once again. Sephiroth had walked the halls of the Shin-Ra building yesterday night. Immediately after that, Kunsel’s world had changed!

Tonight, Zack Fair slept soundly on his sofa, his legs hooked over one of the armrests. Zack’s loud snoring had become more of a comfort to Kunsel than he’d ever imagined it would be. When they had shared a room when they were both 3C, Kunsel had wanted to kill him over it. For the past four years, he would’ve killed to hear it again.

Part of him didn’t want to believe that Zack was alive and in his apartment. So many times in his life, Kunsel had dreamed that Zack would just knock on the door or let himself in. Zack would eat most of the food out of his fridge and they would catch up on workplace gossip. Zack would sneer at the new uniforms implemented by Heidegger last year or laugh at Roche’s newest escapade involving the helitroopers. Things would go back to normal in a snap--and they would figure out how to get Zack back on his feet together. 

That was, of course, _after_ they had buried Zack.

Kunsel knew that Zack coming home was only a fantasy.

Being in Shin-Ra’s intelligence department was a luxury and a curse. Kunsel had seen Zack’s mangled body before. It had been riddled with bullets. Blood and mud had been caked in Zack’s hair. Kunsel had the painful closure of watching them put what was left of Zack into a cardboard box. Then, they put that box in a big, rectangular hole, and covered it over with dirt. The machine had scooped all the dirt back into place in less than five minutes. Everything had been so mechanical and so nonchalant. The worst part of it had been that Kunsel couldn’t mention the burial to anyone else. Zack had been dead for three years in Shin-Ra’s eyes anyway.

Understandably, that body had been gone. That version of Zack Fair had rotted back into the Planet’s soil. Yet, if that were the case, though, why was Zack here? Why had he shown up at Kunsel’s apartment, caked with mud and towing a sick, messy-haired blond over his shoulder? Why did that blond bear such a resemblance to the other man with Zack’s sword that had broken into the Shin-Ra building last night?

Against all better judgement, Kunsel let them both into his home. He had let the blond sleep in his bed. He had let Zack shower, lent him some sweatpants, and let him sleep on the sofa for as long as he needed.

Seeing Zack again had been too normal. It was all the normality Kunsel had dreamt of. No tears, just one back-cracking hug, and Zack continued as he regularly did. Zack had explained all ‘Cloud’s quirks’, pointing to the blond in the bed as he laid him down. He said that Cloud’s been on the upswing and knows to make a few sounds if he needs the bathroom or has a stomachache. The blond that Zack was doting on had the same name and appearance as the man that had broken into the Shin-Ra building last night. Though, he was most definitely not the same man that had escaped. Zack spoke about Cloud as if he’d been with him for the entire time they had been missing. Cloud was always there. Yet, the last time Kunsel had seen Cloud on Shin-Ra’s security feeds, he had been upright and fighting. _He had been without Zack._

Before Zack slept he’d asked Kunsel to keep an ear out. He didn’t ask for any food, and took pleasure in using hot water and getting a nap.

Zack slept hard, trusting Kunsel to watch them both as they rested. 

Kunsel padded between the spaces of his apartment. The bathroom was still steamed up from Zack’s shower. The wet towel that Zack used to dry his hair was across the sink. The dirty uniform that was four years out of regs was abandoned on the floor. The mud had dried into the pants and the shirt was in tatters. Torn and worn thin, Kunsel could wiggle his fingers through the holes in it. One of Zack’s suspenders had a hole through it where he’d gotten a shot to the shoulder. Had Zack removed the bullet on his own? Had it not landed well enough to hurt him? 

Zack was still snoring in the other room.

There was no doubt that the man on his couch was Zack Fair. The question was--how the hell did he get here? He’d been buried months ago. 

What had happened?

Did it matter?

Something in Kunsel’s chest tightened as he knelt down to pick up Zack’s worn-out SOLDIER belt.

Zack was home again. It was all Kunsel could ask for.

If Kunsel was careful, he could pick up every piece of Zack’s ragged uniform and shove it in a bag, get rid of it, and Zack would never notice. If he knew Zack wouldn’t be upset about it, he’d burn it and remove every trace of how SOLDIER wronged him. Zack would never like that, though. SOLDIER was too important to him. That was the only reason Kunsel had been driven to stay with the company at all. Remaining in SOLDIER and serving his comrades had been the last possible thing he could’ve done to honor Zack’s memory.

Kunsel picked up the pieces of the uniform and tossed them into his hamper. He’d take care of it later.

As he padded back into his living room, Zack’s snoring had subsided. He was taking deep, slow breaths now. Over his forehead, Zack's arm slumped off to one side. With his mouth parted and expression relaxed, Zack's head slumped so that the scar on his jaw was on full display.

This _was_ _Zack_.

Who cared how he got home? The point was that he did.

Zack had survived somehow.

After all, if had managed to Sephiroth live, why couldn’t Zack?

There had been full evidence of both of their deaths.

Kunsel knelt next to the couch near Zack’s face and watched as Zack’s chest rose and fell. In the darkness he could make out the soft webs of scars from bullet wounds on Zack’s skin. Across Zack’s sternum was a clean, straight incision mark. Beneath that was a slash across his stomach from a fight that Zack hadn’t talked to Kunsel about yet. Unlike the scar on Zack’s cheek that blended in with his skin, this scar was purple in color and had built quite a bit of scar tissue around it. What the hell had Zack gone through?

Why was he still so calm about it? All Zack had seemed concerned about was getting Cloud a comfortable place to sleep at night.

Kunsel’s fingers brushed the divots in the web of scars against Zack’s collarbone. Without thinking, he traced the purple slash across Zack’s middle. The man under Kunsel’s hands took a sharp breath. Zack’s eyes still had one of the brightest glows in SOLDIER. It was almost unsettling in the dark. His gaze was steady as he slowly sat up.

“How long have you been awake?” Kunsel croaked. Already caught, he didn’t lift the offending hand. And Zack didn’t move to take it off of him.

“Since you came over here,” Zack admitted, yawning. He rubbed his hand through the hair at the nape of his neck. His voice was thick with sleep as he asked, “Why’re you touching me? Is Cloud okay?”

Kunsel blinked, his posture straightening. “Oh, Cloud’s fine--” he said. “I’d take care of him if he needed it anyway.” Firmly, his hands pushed down on Zack’s shoulders. The skin was hot. Zack wasn’t budging either. “Uh, you go back to sleep,” Kunsel said.

Zack’s shit-eating grin made an appearance. “Why were you touching me, though?” he asked again, leaning in. His smile was like sunshine in the middle of a hurricane. “Did you miss me so much you can’t keep your hands off me?”

Kunsel snorted. Zack meant it as a joke, obviously. Yet, he probably hadn’t predicted that there might’ve been some validity to it. Zack was like coming back to Summertime after spending years in a tundra. Mako green eyes settled on the raven-haired SOLDIER. He didn’t know what exactly possessed him to do it, but he answered with honesty. “What if I did?”

Zack’s eyes widened. To Kunsel’s surprise, color flushed to the tips of Zack’s ears with rapid speed, turning them red. Slow at first, then sudden, Kunsel watched his best friend fall apart at the seams. Zack laughed, his eyes wide as he folded his arms behind his head to stretch. It bought him some time to think but it didn’t yield any results. “I, uh--” It was plain that Zack was either thinking about a lot or about nothing at all. “I…” He laughed again, the bubbling sound warming the entire space.

“You’re kidding,” Kunsel said, brow arched. “It was only a single one-liner to break you? A solitary one-liner to win you over? It wasn’t even that good--”

The redness on Zack’s ears had moved to his cheeks. His arms moved in front of his face to hide it. “I’m a simple man, okay??” he snapped. “I’m touch starved and I haven’t talked to a sane person in months. I’m pent up--” Zack wheeled on Kunsel as the other started to laugh, smacking him hard on the side. “Shut up!”

“Zack--”

“Shut up!”

“Zack,” Kunsel put his hand back on Zack’s middle. It triggered the same sharp breath as before.

“Oh, no,” Zack blurted. With knee jerk reaction time, Zack rocked back on his hands, leaning as far away as the couch would allow him. “I’m sorry, Kunsel, I’m not--” He shook his head, his dark hair falling into his eyes. “I’m not thinking right.” His arm kept a distance between them, his hand inches from Kunsel’s chest. “We should knock it off, I--” Kunsel had ignored the request for distance. His gaze instead flicked to a particularly deep web of scar tissue on Zack’s chest. How close had this wound been to his heart? How close had this Zack Fair come to death? How close had Kunsel been to losing Zack twice? When his fingers pressed into one of the holes, Zack’s back arched.

“Did that hurt?” Kunsel asked.

“N-no,” came a stammer. “But we can’t play around like this,” Zack added in a whisper.

“I’m not playing,” Kunsel said, standing up. “I lost you once. I’m sure as hell not going to lose any second chances of being with you.”

Blue eyes blinked up at him in response. “You’re being serious--” Zack breathed in awe. It was as if the idea of Kunsel as a romantic interest hadn’t crossed his mind before. Kunsel snorted--he knew the idea of being with him romantically definitely hadn’t crossed Zack’s mind before. The dark-haired SOLDIER sat still for a few more moments, before he absolutely lit up. Strong arms were suddenly wrapped around Kunsel’s middle. Zack yanked the other down on top of him. “Well, come here then!”

It was that easy?

As shy as Zack had been moments before, he wasn’t a timid kisser. In the darkness, Zack’s warm lips found his own and left long, breathless kisses. Zack didn’t shrink away. He leapt right in. Hands wandered beneath Kunsel’s sweater, fingers leaving warm trails along the other’s skin. It had been only a few seconds before Zack had yanked the garment up over Kunsel’s head and tugged it off, leaving a fluff of chaotic hair sticking in all directions. The way Zack kissed was dizzying! There was something in the other man’s neediness and hunger when he kissed that made Kunsel feel ridiculously loved. In seconds, their relationship got closer than it had ever been in years. Yet, Kunsel felt as if he’d been like this with Zack their whole lives.

Maybe it was an absurd idea, but kissing Zack felt right. Zack held him tightly, balancing Kunsel across his lap as he rocked against him to the rhythm of their affection. When was the last time Kunsel had been expected not to be the strong one? 

No wonder Zack was known infamously as one of the best lovers in SOLDIER. Half a dozen kisses in and Kunsel could feel himself fall a bit too hard in love--too quickly, too fast. The squeeze in his chest was almost unbearable. He pulled back from a nipping kiss against his lower lip. Zack moaned softly with disappointment, then leaned into the space between them, leaving soft bites against Kunsel’s shoulder. Zack was testing his boundaries--and the graze of his teeth never broke the skin. “Kunsel, please?” Zack asked softly, his voice just a whisper. In that moment, Zack’s eyes were the most compelling shade of blue--not like the sky, but instead like the water in the untouched coves around Costa del Sol. It was a warm, inviting color--unique only to the experience of exploration. 

Shit. Was this moving too fast? Maybe he was letting his ego get in the way. Zack was obviously just touch starved from all his time alone. He’d even said it himself that he was just pent up. 

But--how far would Zack go? Gods, who was he kidding? This was Zack. Zack was obviously the type of man to ride this train for as far he could.

The question was how far Kunsel was willing to ride?

There was no time to think it over. There was no time to make a calculated decision where he tried to predict all the outcomes. Zack was forcing him to live within the moment he had without any foresight on their future. 

It felt great.

After all, _why not_ see where it goes? Would he have the opportunity again? He hadn’t had the opportunity before... 

“This doesn’t have to mean anything,” Kunsel said decidedly, pushing the dark-haired man up against the back of the couch. Kunsel was quick--his hands brushing beneath the waistband of the Zack’s sweatpants. Zack’s fist closed in Kunsel’s hair and his gaze sparked an electric shade of blue. His cock stiffened against the palm of Kunsel’s hand. Zack mumbled something softly in Gongagan, offering the crook of his neck to the other as a sacrifice. Kunsel obliged, letting his teeth graze the skin. He could feel Zack’s pulse through his veins, warm and speeding. 

Zack’s next words were everything. “I want it to mean something.”

This man really knew how to say something to make another’s heart stop. Zack’s gaze didn’t shift away as he moved slower, rolling his hips against the other in his lap. Kunsel’s breath shook as Zack put his palm against his cheek and brought his lips back to the other’s. He nipped a few playful kisses before deepening them fully until it felt they would not come back for air.

Kunsel’s thoughts weren’t lining up. Was he even thinking or was he only acting?

He didn’t have much time to think, actually. Zack was already making quick work with his belt, unhitching the metal in two jerks and unfastening the buttons on his pants. Zack shoved them down around Kunsel’s thighs first. Then, he set to squirming out of his own pants from underneath him.

“Zack?” Kunsel asked, just as the raven-haired SOLDIER grinned up at him expectantly. Zack yanked him down by the shoulders for another kiss. If he tried to pull back, Zack would only tug him back down again. Before he could actually ask his question, though, Zack had decisively sat up and pushed him onto his back. Confidently pinning the other down, he grinned deviously. Black hair snaked over Zack’s shoulders, tickling Kunsel’s cheek as it fell.

This had to be some grief-stricken fantasy. It had to be all an illusion. 

Yet, Zack was trailing kisses down his stomach and it all felt too real for him to continue not to believe. Suddenly his heart flung itself into his throat when he felt Zack’s breath against his cock, those adventurous blue eyes looked up at him with enthusiasm, waiting on an answer.

“Yes,” he answered the silent request of permission. Zack’s mouth kissed the head of his cock once before he swallowed it down.

A sharp groan escaped Kunsel, warmth lighting him up from the inside out. His arms twined over his own head as he locked his fingers against the armrest of the couch. One of his knees had raised itself to rest against the side of Zack’s head. Zack was eager and his technique had been immaculate. Zack used his tongue to circle and draw along the straining flesh. His hands never stopped exploring, calloused hands running over the core of strong muscle at Kunsel’s stomach with appreciation. 

He loved as if his life depended on it, taking his time, relishing in the feeling of skin against skin.

Zack’s fingers brushed down lower beneath the cock, making the other’s back arch up against him.

Kunsel’s hand loosened its grasp on the armrest and instead raked through Zack’s hair. It was warm and surprisingly soft under his fingers. Zack made a happy noise, taking this as an invitation to take more, bobbing his head down further. Kunsel’s fingers locked into black spikes so hard that he was certain if he pulled too much, he’d yank some of Zack’s hair out.

“Zack, I’m gonna--” Zack took a quick breath through his nose and nuzzled himself further, the tip of his tongue exploring the base of the other's cock as his head bobbed.

Like overwound clockwork, a hot tightness had pooled in his stomach. Suddenly it felt that his whole world was about to break. The ache had become too much to bear and suddenly everything stopped. 

There was release. Zack’s breathing was even, and Kunsel watched Zack’s throat flex as he eased back and swallowed. With a wet ‘pop’, Zack pulled himself forward and rested his head against the other’s stomach.

“I didn’t know you could do that,” Kunsel said in a whisper. Zack only grinned.

“Gods, we should’ve dated before,” Kunsel continued in a daze. He could’ve had these opportunities ages ago. Why had he been so stupid as to not include Zack in his romantic equation earlier in their lives? This was great.

Zack’s bubbling laughter filled the room. “Probably. We’ve got lots of time to make up for, though!” Zack sat up fully and tipped his head to one side. His eyes were bright and ambitious. “Anyway, round two?”


End file.
